Diseases - Viral Erythrocytic Necrosis (VEN) 2

Erythrocytes from a wild, Puget Sound herring demonstrating severe VEN. Note the presence of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in the erythrocytes. Inclusioned erythrocytes are killed by the virus and are replaced by erythroblasts (cells with the blue-staining cytoplasm). Eventually, the inclusioned blast cells also die and the hematocrit of infected herring drops to dangerously low levels.